FIG. 1 illustrates current fuel production and distribution. Crude oil is pumped from oil wells and delivered to oil refineries 102 by ships 104 and oil pipelines. The crude oil is refined at oil refineries, primarily by catalytic cracking of large, complex hydrocarbons to produce various lower-molecular-weight hydrocarbons and by fractionation, to produce various different types of fuel, including kerosene, diesel fuel, and gasoline. Each type of fuel is characterized by various parameters, including flash point, volatility, viscosity, octane rating, and chemical composition. In general, the fractionation process selects a molecular-weight range of alkane, alkene, and non-aliphatic crude oil components which results in each fraction having desired fuel characteristics, including desired flash points, volatilities, viscosities, and octane ratings. Gasoline and diesel fuel are then delivered by truck 106 or pipeline to various distribution points, including service stations 108, where the fuel is delivered to motor vehicles.
While the above-described fuel-processing and fuel-delivery system has successfully provided fuel for motorized vehicles for nearly a century, there are certain disadvantages to the system. For example, the refining process is carried out once, at the oil refinery 102, and once the fuel leaves the oil refinery, there is no further possible processing or processing-based quality control. From a thermodynamic standpoint, fuel is a relatively high-energy and low-entropy substance, and is therefore chemically unstable. Fuel is subject to a variety of chemical-degradation processes, including oxidation, polymerization, substitution reactions, many different additional types of reactions between component molecules and between component molecules and contaminates, absorption of solid and liquid contaminants, absorption of gasses, continuous loss of more volatile components by vaporization and release of vaporized fractions, contamination with water, and many other types of processes. The potential for fuel degradation is increased by the relatively large variation in times between refining and use, the ranges of temperature and other environment conditions that the fuel may be exposed to during delivery, storage, distribution, and while contained in the fuel tanks of motorized vehicles, and by many other factors beyond the control of fuel refiners and fuel distributors. It is likely that, in many cases, the fuel actually burned in internal-combustion engines may differ in chemical composition and characteristics from the fuel originally produced at the oil refinery.
A further consideration is that each type of motorized vehicle and internal-combustion engine generally differs from other types of motorized vehicles and internal-combustion engines, and it is quite impossible to economically produce fuels particularly designed and tailored for any particular motorized vehicle or internal-combustion engine. Were it possible to refine a fuel to produce a fuel optimal for any particular motorized vehicle and internal-combustion engine, it is likely that the motorized vehicle would provide greater fuel efficiency and produce fewer pollutants than when running on standard, mass-produced fuel. Furthermore, the characteristics of any particular vehicle and internal-combustion engine may change dramatically over time, as the vehicle ages, and may also change dramatically depending on vehicle use and the ever-changing condition sunder which the vehicle is operated.
For these and other reasons, fuel producers and distributors, motorized-vehicle designers and manufacturers, and consumers of fuel would all benefit by an ability to better control fuel characteristics following initial production, while the fuel is distributed and while the fuel is contained in fuel tanks within motorized vehicles. Both fuel efficiency and pollution control could likely be optimized by more closely matching fuels to vehicles as the fuel is being used.